Support For Hunting on the Decline…..Why? What Can We Do?

[Swamp Fox__On The Run]

The CAHHS site kept closing on my laptop, so I pulled the appropriate graph from a piece by Outdoor Life.

It's notable that conservation, critter management, and personal motivations rate significantly lower to the public trying to find reasons to approve of hunting, compared to food gathering.

 

[PoorMansWrangler]

Didn’t see this up here, I would have to say in my area, hunting pressure both of public land and private land. Super tough to get permission on private, and if you do, odds are someone else is hunting there as well. Public land is hammered around here, both with small game and deer hunters. There are nice deer on public, but at least in my area, you will never have that “secret” spot. Tough to want to go burn a morning or evening when you get to the pull off and there are 3 trucks there already.

 

[BowhunterXC]

In the Apr./May ‘25 Issue of Bowhunter Magazine’s “Know Hunting” Column by Dr. Dave Samuel, he references a recent study by Responsive Management for the Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports (CAHSS); which I’ve never heard of before, that suggests public support of hunting is in the decline.

Any time any article is printed, opinion is made by Mr. (fill in the blank) or Dr. Dave Samuel, you have to research that person's agenda. Where are they coming from with their research and what point are they trying to make?
* What's their political status?
* What background do they have that qualifies them to have an opinion on hunting, animal populations, etc.
* If a "poll" is taken, where was that poll taken? Was it taken at a well known college and if it was what kind of audience do they appeal to for their opinions and knowledge on the questions?

Personally..... It takes too much of my time to research where these "studies" came from as well as their outcome to have any bearing on what I do, what I hunt, where I hunt, etc., etc., etc. I watch and listen to what's going on within my home state, but money talks and unfortunately the state listens to the almighty dollar.

If a decline in hunting is happening or happens, that will leave more ground for me to hunt.

 

[Bigfoot522]

Reminds me of a previous thread.
(Is hunting a sport)

I think I was slightly ranting.

 

[DroptineKrazy]

Your looking at it. Screens. Whether it's a phone screen or a laptop, kids are glued to their electronics and are sitting inside where it's nice and warm and comfortable. Most don't want to leave the house for any reason much less to go out and harvest they're own food. Are you kiddin me? Kid's nowadays even want they're McD's delivered for them so they don't have to get off their butts. I give hunting as we know it, at least recreational public hunting, 25-30 years at the most.

 

[woodsdog2]

Your looking at it. Screens. Whether it's a phone screen or a laptop, kids are glued to their electronics and are sitting inside where it's nice and warm and comfortable. Most don't want to leave the house for any reason much less to go out and harvest they're own food. Are you kiddin me? Kid's nowadays even want they're McD's delivered for them so they don't have to get off their butts. I give hunting as we know it, at least recreational public hunting, 25-30 years at the most.

I am concerned. It seems like it would never happen in that short of a time frame but look at how fast they just demonetized the trapping channels….. what’s next? They always start with trapping as it’s the most emotionally charged. Those who are unknowing, uneducated about the outdoor pursuits those people don’t want to know about the “wet work!”

I personally know people that have hired me or asked me to catch nuisance animals and I know their anti-ish proclivities. Almost to a “T” they don’t want to see or know anything whatsoever about what I “do” with the animals I catch……. That is telling. But likely many will be the first to vote down hunting and trapping.

 

[DroptineKrazy]

I am concerned. It seems like it would never happen in that short of a time frame but look at how fast they just demonetized the trapping channels….. what’s next? They always start with trapping as it’s the most emotionally charged. Those who are unknowing, uneducated about the outdoor pursuits those people don’t want to know about the “wet work!”

I personally know people that have hired me or asked me to catch nuisance animals and I know their anti-ish proclivities. Almost to a “T” they don’t want to see or know anything whatsoever about what I “do” with the animals I catch……. That is telling. But likely many will be the first to vote down hunting and trapping.

Trapping is a much easier target for the anti's as the animals involved, for the most part, are not eaten.

 

[Djp32]

Another thing to note in my opinion is what some seemed to be eluding to already. Lone wolf trophy hunting fueled by the very social media that we are currently participating in. I live in a big city with your typical suburban areas on the out skirts are being over ran with deer. There are “programs” that are really hard to even know about let alone get into that target deer in these areas. They all promote or even regulate how many doe you have to take before you can be eligible to kill a buck. I know several people in these type programs and believe me, they are always buck hunting. How many big buck diy guys are killing there fair share of does? Hunting really gets bad rap when Boroughs and townships have to hire snipers to take care of there over population problems. The very thing that hunting should be helping take care of, fails. Nobody is shooting does because of there big buck first mentality. Meanwhile when we have winters like this years, those over populated deer will starve and or move to more residential areas that they shouldn’t be in the first place to seek food. All of which brings hunters into the limelight again in a negative way. I was shed hunting a tiny patch that the city owns last week and got harrassed by a neighbor for doing hunting relating things in the woods. Obviously they were against hunting. Meanwhile, in that tiny patch that is filled with “pet deer” one young shed out buck laid dead that wasn’t there the week prior. He had no signs of being shot or killed be a predator. I would agree that most public hunting lands in rural areas are not over populated but most suburban areas are and that is where the majority of anti hunting attention comes from. I think hunters need to do there part and kill more deer. The probably is being a doe hunter doesn’t get you any clicks or likes. Big bucks and particularly big archery bucks are dominating the industry across all other types of game and style and all why pricing out the newer generations. Try to convince a new hunter that you need a grand or two of equipment, walk in a mile in the dark with it all on your back 2 hours before the sun comes up, don’t shot at anything that isn’t pope and young or a doe and sit until dark because that’s hardcore. You’ll have that persons attention for about 10 minutes and he or she will never want to hunt again. Meanwhile there are opportunities to be a successful hunter and put meat on the table all over the place with minimal investment but it just isn’t the cool way. Long of the short, we’re doing it to ourselves.

 

[Jammintree]

Many cultures within the US have been increasingly separate from nature. And now that we are all carrying personal screens the separation is growing at a far more rapid pace. Even amongst hunters, many people fail to understand that humans are one of the many forces of nature.

The good news is that the vast majority of people are ambivalent about hunting. And it’s now incumbent upon those of us who hunt to consider how our choices influence the perspectives of non hunters. We have to recognize that there are many things that only a hunter can understand and keep those things to ourselves or at least out of plain sight. For example: hunting content on YouTube has some pretty graphic imagery. We don’t have to do away with that imagery - but we can avoid putting the kill shot in the opening scene. As much as I want the general public to know and understand basic facts of life, there are certain things that are only for the eyes of the initiated. I know a lot of good guys that want to throw the middle finger to the antis and do things like strap a deer to the back of the truck, drop the tailgate and drive through a busy downtown jot show off their prize to other hunters and to anger the antis. This stuff doesn’t help our cause.

We need to demonstrate values that are relatable. There are so many great services that we provide, like keeping ecosystems in balance, providing meat to those who don’t have adequate sources of nutrition, reducing our own reliance on factory farms… the list goes on.

I take exception to the comment someone previously made here about red vs blue states. While I get your point, many of the blue states need hunters as much or more than elsewhere and have governments that publicly encourage hunting. Highly populated areas are increasingly prime deer and bear habitat and need the presence of hunters for management sake. We as hunters need to emphasize the positive ways that we play a role in nature. This argument does have great impact in blue states. I know many non hunting “liberals” who live in suburbia that are increasingly advocates of hunting because they see bears devastating curbside trash and deer that eat expensive landscape shrubbery.

So keep donating meat those in need, keep helping farmers fill nuisance tags, keep supporting land trusts that purchase land and allow hunting, keep the graphic elements of hunting for initiates eyes, keep being courteous to non hunters that you meet in the woods, be generally respectful and considerate, ask permission even when when you don’t have to. Put a positive face onto hunting. I think what woodsdog said about antis calling on him to trap is a great example for us to consider. They may not like or promote what he does. But there does a time when they recognize the service he provides. So when he shows up and fills that need, and does so with courtesy and respect, they may not like what had to happen, but they do recognize that it was necessary and they see that he’s a good person.

 

[DroptineKrazy]

Many cultures within the US have been increasingly separate from nature. And now that we are all carrying personal screens the separation is growing at a far more rapid pace. Even amongst hunters, many people fail to understand that humans are one of the many forces of nature.

The good news is that the vast majority of people are ambivalent about hunting. And it’s now incumbent upon those of us who hunt to consider how our choices influence the perspectives of non hunters. We have to recognize that there are many things that only a hunter can understand and keep those things to ourselves or at least out of plain sight. For example: hunting content on YouTube has some pretty graphic imagery. We don’t have to do away with that imagery - but we can avoid putting the kill shot in the opening scene. As much as I want the general public to know and understand basic facts of life, there are certain things that are only for the eyes of the initiated. I know a lot of good guys that want to throw the middle finger to the antis and do things like strap a deer to the back of the truck, drop the tailgate and drive through a busy downtown jot show off their prize to other hunters and to anger the antis. This stuff doesn’t help our cause.

We need to demonstrate values that are relatable. There are so many great services that we provide, like keeping ecosystems in balance, providing meat to those who don’t have adequate sources of nutrition, reducing our own reliance on factory farms… the list goes on.

I take exception to the comment someone previously made here about red vs blue states. While I get your point, many of the blue states need hunters as much or more than elsewhere and have governments that publicly encourage hunting. Highly populated areas are increasingly prime deer and bear habitat and need the presence of hunters for management sake. We as hunters need to emphasize the positive ways that we play a role in nature. This argument does have great impact in blue states. I know many non hunting “liberals” who live in suburbia that are increasingly advocates of hunting because they see bears devastating curbside trash and deer that eat expensive landscape shrubbery.

So keep donating meat those in need, keep helping farmers fill nuisance tags, keep supporting land trusts that purchase land and allow hunting, keep the graphic elements of hunting for initiates eyes, keep being courteous to non hunters that you meet in the woods, be generally respectful and considerate, ask permission even when when you don’t have to. Put a positive face onto hunting. I think what woodsdog said about antis calling on him to trap is a great example for us to consider. They may not like or promote what he does. But there does a time when they recognize the service he provides. So when he shows up and fills that need, and does so with courtesy and respect, they may not like what had to happen, but they do recognize that it was necessary and they see that he’s a good person.

That's all fine and dandy for the time being, and I think it would get you a few more years but I still think sport hunting will be doomed within 30 years. Too many changes in both the hunting #'s landscape and Mother Earth's.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

This might be a tangent to this discussion, and it relates to suburban hunting, which I don't do. It seems to me that one of the biggest mistakes that I see suburban youtube hunters making is getting kitted up in a $1000 camo outfit that would be right at home in the Rockies hunting elk, but that just screams to anyone that sees them "hunter!" in these neighborhoods that they know (or should know) contains high numbers of anti-hunters. Half those shows have some incident where the host is confronted by some screaming Karen. Maybe they do it for the drama thinking it makes the episode more interesting. I can't see how it helps anything. You are not going to change the mind of one of those folks. They are like religious zealots.

If it were me, and as I say I don't hunt this sort of area, but staying off the radar of everyone in the area would seem to be as important, if not more important than staying off the radar of the deer you are hunting.

Where I live, camo is a fashion statement and you can see people in camo year round, but if I were to hunt in town you can bet I would look like any "normie" on the street and blend in. I would wear muted color clothes that would not make anyone look twice. Isn't that what camo is supposed to do anyway?

 

[mschultz373]

Wearing camo in a suburban or urban area is like having an NRA sticker on your car… blend in, don’t stick out.

 

[DroptineKrazy]

This might be a tangent to this discussion, and it relates to suburban hunting, which I don't do. It seems to me that one of the biggest mistakes that I see suburban youtube hunters making is getting kitted up in a $1000 camo outfit that would be right at home in the Rockies hunting elk, but that just screams to anyone that sees them "hunter!" in these neighborhoods that they know (or should know) contains high numbers of anti-hunters. Half those shows have some incident where the host is confronted by some screaming Karen. Maybe they do it for the drama thinking it makes the episode more interesting. I can't see how it helps anything. You are not going to change the mind of one of those folks. They are like religious zealots.

If it were me, and as I say I don't hunt this sort of area, but staying off the radar of everyone in the area would seem to be as important, if not more important than staying off the radar of the deer you are hunting.

Where I live, camo is a fashion statement and you can see people in camo year round, but if I were to hunt in town you can bet I would look like any "normie" on the street and blend in. I would wear muted color clothes that would not make anyone look twice. Isn't that what camo is supposed to do anyway?

I hunt in a suburban area for the most part and I try to stay invisible to the deers and everyone else.

 

[washxc]

I think one of our problems as sportsmen and women is that we aren't proactive in sharing the information that we all take for granted (benefits to ecology, conservation, food, etc.). The anti-hunters and trappers have been blowing up social media the last two months since Facebook and others cut their moderator staffing. They are using AI generated fake accounts to inundate trappers and hunters with several pre-set themes to share their propaganda. If you're on social media, look at any page that shares a picture of a predator that is hunted or trapped. These are the pages that anti's target because it is part of their strategy to eliminate predator hunting first. It costs 1 cent to generate 5 fake AI accounts to do this type of thing. Unfortunately, social media is the news now. And propaganda is the tool. Personally, I think it's nuts that we live in this type of world. But, we could do the same thing with fake AI accounts and a set of themes surrounding the positive impact of conservation (but without the insane, violent rhetoric). As much as I would hate to go that route, I don't think we have much choice if we want to have any chance of reversing course.

 

[dhoff545]

I think you can draw a straight line through trophy hunting culture to access issues to lowered participation rates.

Public land is crowded, private land is leased up.

I assist with doe mgmt on an exceptional piece of private. I could kill a 2 140s there a year on the weekends if I had enough money to pay for access to that kind of property. Meanwhile I've seen 1 140" deer on public ever in this state.

The North American model is dying and will be replaced by something that looks more like a European or African model depending on which state you are in. Texas already has an Africanish model going and I think the rest of the West will follow with lip service to wildlife as a public resource. The East coast and lake states will look more like Europe with more govt control but hunting taking place primarily on reserves for well heeled upperclass folks and some suburban mgmt in places as the most economic alternative.

 

[mschultz373]

I do also wanna reinforce: none of our predictions are inevitable. Nothing is a foregone conclusion. The legacy of conservation proves that our efforts and determination can turn around even the most difficult of circumstances. And beyond that, unforeseen events and sea changes can happen at any point.

We allow too much of our cultural, economic and political discourse to devolve into inevitables. We have choices and the power to change things.

 

[bigmike23]

Most of all my friends that hunted when they were younger stopped.

Similar to what Nutter said, they didn't have good options for places to hunt, so they hunted the public they had. When you're younger, you don't grasp the amount of work you have to put in and knowledge you need to gain to be successful every year.

So when they go out in the freezing cold and don't see a single deer all day long, it gets old fast. Hence they all stopped.

 

[boyne bowhunter]

I apologize in advance for my novel. I've been working on it off and on for a bit now. However, I'm afraid hunting, at least as I think of it, is a dying art and I believe there's multiple reasons for it.

When I was a youngster there weren't a lot of options to sit at home and do things, at least not exciting things. I was encouraged to "Get outside and go do something!" Hunting/fishing was a means to do just that. There wasn't a lot of distractions back then, after all we only had 3 channels on the single TV in the house and the phone sat right in the middle where everyone could hear your conversations. Going out in the woods was the way you could escape and find some alone time. Today's world is full of things to do in the house. There's endless options for entertaining yourself and escaping right in your front room. There's no need to go out and seek solitude somewhere else. Plug into your game/video and tune everything else out. If someone comes along then you just carry it all to another room.

Add to it, that hunting takes a good bit of work and even some discomfort. Depending on where you live in the country you may have to have through hills or swamps in the rain or snow and then you have to somehow manage to stay still and quiet for lengthy periods of time while you wait for your prey. It may the old curmudgeon in me but I see today's folks as being more instant gratification driven. What most of us hunters find interesting and cool is just boring to most of them. Add in the fact that you'll probably be uncomfortable and bored at the same time and they're just not into it. There's "better" things to do with their time. I'm not sure how to make the challenges associated with hunting cool again to today's youth. To me overcoming those obstacles is a huge part of the enjoyment but its hard to get someone who doesn't already feel that way to understand it.

The mentoring aspect is another huge hurdle. My dad was a die hard fisherman who hunted in the offseason (the exact opposite of me) and he took me out all the time with him when I was really young. I have memories of participating in deer drives with my dad and his friends when I was 7/8 y ears old, long before I could legally hunt. In fact my father unfortunately passed away before I was old enough to actually carry a weapon afield. That didn't stop him from teaching me firearm safety and how to shoot though. I remember being exhausted on those drives but never willing to admit I was tired for fear of not be asked again. Heck, you didn't admit you couldn't keep up or you were somehow less of a man, even as a boy. One benefit I remember from this was learning to drive the truck at a young age. "Hey Joe, when you get out of the woods walk back down to the truck and drive it down that two track and pick up the guys sitting there." What a thrill for a very young dude to get to drive the old 3 on the tree International Travelall!

I was lucky enough after my father passed to make friends at school with a guy whose dad was a die hard deer hunter. I've wrote about this on here before but I owe that man more than I could ever repay. He took me under his wing and picked me up on the way to the woods every weekend during the hunting season and took us boys out to spend the days in the woods. We'd get dropped off to go our separate ways and hunt until around 9-10am and then we'd reconvene at the truck (again something you couldn't do in Michigan these days. Heaven forbid a minor off in the bush unattended! ) to begin finding, cutting and hauling trees for firewood as they heated their house with a wood stove. My buddy and I served as pack mules carrying the cut 8' logs back to the truck (his youngest boy was around 9 at the time and not able to help much). These cutting sessions doubled as scouting and lessons on woodsmanship. Tree identification, deer trails, food sources, etc. were all topics discussed as he taught us about the woods around us. We'd then have lunch and again go our separate ways for the evening hunt. To this day when he introduces me to people he refers to me as his "third son". It's a title I take great pride in. I realize he had his own motives for taking me along (he needed a young mule) but without his guidance who knows where I would have ended up. I still hunt with these guys every year . . . this coming season will be year 51.

I struggle with the idea of how I could mentor kids other my own daughter. Those connections are harder to make in today's world of wary parents (rightfully so) and litigious society. Can you imagine the outrage and consequences that would befall a guy who let a 13 year old (audible gasp) wander off and hunt on his own, especially if he happened to get lost or hurt. Its hard to imagine now but things were a lot different 50 year ago. In those days we hunted standing on branches wedged against the tree trunk, no stands/platforms, no safety harnesses no sticks. We hunted trees we could climb and only carried our bow and arrows. Navigation was by compass and landscape features, no fancy mapping apps available and yet we somehow managed to survive, and even thrive. Sure, we got turned around sometimes, experienced some bumps and bruises but no one was the worse for it. If my mother was ever worried about it she never showed it to me. I'm not sure that would be the case today.

The third issue I see revolves around access. When I was young I worked as a part time laborer after school on the local dairy farm of a friend mostly for evening hunting access. In those days we wandered at will through all the neighboring farm lands. If the land wasn't posted it was implied consent to access it. Nobody really cared if you wandered across or hunted on their land as long as you did it responsibly. In fact I can distinctly remember a conversation between my dad and an uncle in the early 70's where the uncle was trying to talk my day into posting his land. My dad's response was "If you post your land you better make darn sure you never step on anyone else's!" Those are words that have hung with me all these years and demonstrate the different attitude back then. Now adays the landowner that will allow access is the extreme rarity. I don't blame private property owners, they own the land and pay the taxes. Its their right to limit access if they want. I just think its a demonstrator of how society's attitudes/norms have changed over the years.

Sorry for the long post . . . its a topic that hits home with me. While it honestly probably won't affect me much in my remaining hunting lifetime I still worry about the demise of the hunting pastime/rights for our future generations. Add to that the future outlook for the game animals we respect and chase. Most nonhunters fail to consider the fact that hunter's are the greatest conservationists out there. After all, we need to keep the game animals flourishing so we can enjoy our passion. When the hunting is abolished these conservation organizations will too cease to exist.

 

[washxc]

Great post, Boyne. I agree about the distractions for our youth, but I really believe that every human being has it coded in to their DNA to desire being outdoors, and to hunt and gather. We just have to foster it through opportunity. My family didn't hunt, and so I didn't hunt much until I was in my 20's. I was fortunate to have friends help my learning curve, but I was an adult when I truly committed to becoming a hunter. I think that the primary reason people oppose hunting and trapping is because they haven't yet experienced it. In short, I have hope that through education and opportunity hunting can thrive in the future. But it would take louder voices than we currently have. Access, though, is a real problem that will only get worse. Increasing access to public land in every sector (rural, urban, suburban) is crucial. A 20 acre woodlot at the edge of a suburb can be the difference between a lifetime of enjoying the outdoors, and never having the opportunity to know its beauty.

 

[Nutterbuster]

I don't think video games and smartphones are as big of an issue as is sometimes made out. Mainly because outdoor industry reports indicate that plenty of outdoor rec activities have shown grown. Fly fishing, kayaking, mountain biking, birdwatching, etc. all shoe growth.

I also agree that the NA model is failing, or really has failed. We stopped at what should have been a start. But we got sidetracked "managing" game populations in step with other resources like timber, and forgot about native habitat and non-game species. The result? Even game animals (deer aside) are doing poorly, and state agencies don't give much of a hoot about non-game because hunters by-and-large don't and they don't make money.

We also refuse to entertain discussions about what percentage of our environment we'll limit our expansion to. EO Wilson got decided as a radical for his Half Earth solution, which i think is radical only because it allows one species out of millions to claim half the world.